Health Strategy Providers – HSPs

Breed-specific health testing strategies are created by groups responsible for the sustainable health and welfare of a breed – generally kennel clubs and (national) breed clubs.  These groups examine the evidence available on the occurrence, severity, commonness, heritability, and overall importance of various conditions known to occur within a breed.  They then determine whether there are health tests available to characterize the sire and dam, and/or puppies, to provide information to direct breeding decisions by breeders.

HSPs have different goals, different priorities, and different authority in terms of recommending or requiring health testing and may design different strategies.  Some have long lists of conditions of interest, some shorter lists.  This depends also on the breed. 

• Those HSPs who control registration of dogs/puppies or who control membership to a group (e.g. OFA CHIC registration) may make some these health programs mandatory (required, R1 in HSDD breed charts) for e.g. hip dysplasia screening in many breeds.
• In other cases, health testing may be ‘recommended (R2)’ or
• it may be that the condition is simply on the radar of breed representatives and it is ‘recognized (R3) as a potential issue in the breed.

Conditions listed by HSPs in the HSDD database provide a Big Picture of conditions of interest in breeds.

Note that: Conditions are listed as general categories (to provide a manageable presentation); details of specific conditions are contained within the breed-specific data provided by HSPs.  More information is available by following URLs to the HSP.